


The one where Jemma saves the day (and maybe the team helps)

by b0r3d_bl0gg3r



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-07
Updated: 2016-04-02
Packaged: 2018-03-21 19:46:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3703357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/b0r3d_bl0gg3r/pseuds/b0r3d_bl0gg3r
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jemma thinks that maybe it starts with the time. </p><p>(It really just starts with her.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Is it time

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback would be appreciated.

**7:05 AM**

Jemma thinks that maybe it starts with the time. It wasn’t actually 7:05, Fitz had forgotten to fix the clock in the lab after the little prank Skye had tried to pull to get back into the pace of things.

It hadn’t worked and now there was a broken clock hanging on the wall opposite her.

Jemma found it oddly thearaupetic to be able to see the same time in front of her every time she looked up. It felt as if time was standing still just for her. It didn’t last long.

(Coulson had one of the other engineers take it off to fix it)

 

 

 

**12:06 PM**

“Jemma.” She hears May before she sees her, voice cold but laced with concern. Jemma doesn’t think May wants to let the hint of concern slip into her voice, but Jemma catches the slip nonetheless. The concern worries her more than the fact that May’s calling her ‘Jemma’.

"Yes.” She turns in her chair only to be met with the sight of May being dragged off in between two guards.

She’s too shocked to say anything and May doesn’t either.

Jemma likes to believe (while she’s lying under the covers all alone because Skye and Fitz are _gone_ ) that what she’s doing is the right thing. That she’s doing it for May because May is alone and unprotected.

The excuse sounds exactly like that. An excuse.

(But the thought that May’s only here for her makes her ache deep inside so she doesn’t think about that)

 

 

**1:00 PM**

It’s not so bad most days, most days Jemma wakes up feeling light on her feet and almost as if she’s on the bus again (those days are the worst now that she thinks about it, she wakes up with the feeling of content but it only lasts as long as she stays in her bunk)

It’s bad most days, most days Jemma wakes up thinking everything will be alright. _I’ll find a way to get May out and then we’ll find Fitz and Skye._

(She doesn’t let herself think about Bobbi or the new SHIELD. She really does not want to cry again.)

And then she steps out and there isn’t a trace of anyone, not Skye, not Fitz, not Lance and not _Trip._

She tries not to let it get to her. She tries _so hard,_ but it’s inevitable. Eventually the stares (they know she’s not really a part of the new whatever this is) and the utter bareness of the place she thought she could substitute for the bus, for _home,_ becomes too much for her.

She goes to May.

 


	2. In between

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jemma thinks that maybe forgetting wouldn't be so bad, until she actually does.

**12:00 am**

 

"May." Jemma mutters to herself, like a mantra. Drinking in the sight of her and refusing to let herself forget too much.

(she's already forgotten how Trip used to carry himself and it  _hurts_ )

"May." Jemma says, more firmly and with a hint of something else. Something she herself hasn't yet grasped at.

Jemma looks at May. Melinda May. All alone in a cell with no news about anyone because they won't let her _see_ anyone.

Quite literally. They've blocked off her sight with an impenetrable wall. But Jemma knows Fitz, and Fitz made that wall. So she vows to herself, one night under the safety of her covers, that she'll get May out and they'll leave. Because Fitz is on the run and Skye has been taken and Trip is-

(she falls asleep before she can think further

It doesn't help,

the nightmares are almost as bad as the thoughts that plague her mind.)

 

* * *

 

 

**13:05 pm**

 

Jemma enters the lab like she has any other day, with her head held high and her eyes speaking for her.

_I belong here_ , they say,  _you don't._

She goes about her day like normal, lying to everyone about the little metal box that isn't real, ignoring Bobbi when she tries to talk to her-

(somehow that hurts more than she thought it would)

-and letting Mack dig the metaphorical knife deeper into her with every word that leaves his mouth because he doesn't know.

He'll never  _know._

She won't let him know how much this affects her and she'll do it for Skye and Fitz. But really, she'll do it for Melinda May. Who hasn't broken down. Not once. 

Jemma will keep pretending for the only person in this place who believes in her. 

 

* * *

 

 

**16:00 pm**

 

Jemma finally gets a chance to talk to May one evening.

Gonzales strolls in, two guards in black flanking his sides, and stops in front of her desk. She's (pretending) to work on a way to open the (fake) box without the use of laser.

("The laser would cut through anything you might deem important," she tells them calmly, even though she'd screaming on the inside because they can't _know_ , "do you really want to risk that?")

"Agent Simmons." 

Jemma looks up, eyes red-rimmed but frosty, "Yes, that is half my name."

Gonzales doesn't look amused. But that's alright, Jemma didn't find that funny either. She doesn't find anything funny these days, despite the bubble of hysterical laughter that threatens to encompass her if she ever stops  _pretending._

"You are to talk to Melinda May; find out where Phil Coulson is." He leaves the  _Agent_ out of both their names like a threat. Like they aren't a part of what this is. 

( _I'm not either,_ she wants to scream.

but she doesn't.)

Jemma nods, she doesn't trust herself to say anything more to this man that has taken everything from her.

 

* * *

 

 

**17:05 pm**

 

May looks beautiful. Her skin greying and gaunt, her clothes hanging loose over her thinning self, but beautiful. Her eyes are staring at her as if she knows exactly where Jemma is on the other side of the wall. But unlike her body, her eyes are on  _fire._

Jemma feels something loosen within her and she moves her hands over the tablet, the wall shimmering before becoming transparent.

"Jemma." May's voice is croaky from not being able to use it for so long.

(how long exactly, Jemma doesn't want to know)

"Agent May." Jemma replies and her heart breaks even more when she notices May's features harden. She wants to give May something, anything, as a sign that she'll get her out of there. But with the cameras watching her every move she can't afford to give May that small kindness.

But she wishes she could, she so dearly wishes. 

"Where is Agent Coulson?" Jemma will give her this much. She'll continue to call them  _Agents_ because that's what they are. Agents of Shield. 

May doesn't reply, just continues to stare at her. Jemma expects nothing more, but she still leaves with more hope than she had entered with.


	3. The pin drops

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jemma will do a lot for her precious people. 
> 
> Except for Torture.

**01:05**

 

One night after Jemma's visit to May, she sits on her bed staring at the ceiling of her small room and thinks her way through her feelings. It's become a routine to her now. 

(Mainly because thinking  _with_ her feelings is a risk she isn't willing to take)

 So Jemma sits, and stares, and thinks. She thinks because that's what she's done her whole life and it's the one thing they can't take from her. That nobody can take from her. 

She thinks about May and she thinks about ways to escape-

although she's stopped thinking about that and instead started thinking about ways to help them (her and May) when they do escape

-and she thinks about Ward because anger and curiosity is something she can very well afford to feel seeing as she's accumulated so much of it. 

 

(Some days Jemma sits and mourns but those days are few and far between)

 

* * *

 

**11:56**

 

Gonzales calls for her a week later; this time sending Bobbi to get her.

Jemma stands there as Bobbi tells her to follow her and wonders what would happen if she refused. If she told Bobbi that she didn't want to see her because she was a traitor. 

(She feels an odd pang in her gut when she thinks of Bobbi's possible reaction to that and let's herself believe that it wouldn't matter anyway)

 

(It matters so much Jemma almost feels sick)

 

Instead she nods while taking off her gloves, throwing them into the bin next to her, and following Bobbi even though they both know she knows exactly where Gonzales' office is.

Bobbi holds the door open for Jemma once they arrive and she rushes inside with a very soft 'Thank you'.

(She pretends not to here Bobbi's reply)

"You asked for me?" Jemma questions, one eyebrow raised. She doesn't cross her arms because Fitz used to tell her it made her look standoff-ish, instead she folds her hands neatly in front of her and looks at Gonzales, waiting. 

"How rude." She hears one of the agent mutter under their breath, most likely because she refuses to address Gonzales as 'Director'. It's a lost cause, Jemma swore once Fitz left and she lost contact with Skye that she'd never refer to anyone as 'Director' ever again, unless that person was Coulson.

(Or May- some far off voice whispers in her head because  _May_ )

Gonzales and Bobbi both ignore the agent and so does Jemma. Gonzales nods at Bobbi and Bobbi nods back, albeit a little hesitantly, before leaving and shutting the door behind her. Jemma ignores that too.

"Agent Simmons." Gonzales addresses her directly, eyes locked with hers, "You will persuade Melinda May to give over Phil Coulson's location once again."

Jemma doesn't move. She can feel that there's something else.

Gonzales smiles then and motions to the agent on his right. The tall figure completely clad in black moves towards her, holding a rectangular device.

"Tools for your new mission, you are a biologist after all."

Jemma tries to ignore the sick feeling in her gut when the implications in his statement become clear.  _Torture._

 

 

* * *

**12:00**

 

When a different agent escorts Jemma downstairs towards May's cell all she can do is keep her eyes locked ahead, and her hands steady.

(She drops the case twice on the way)

She's all but shoved into the cell, the door closing behind her with a click. Jemma looks around and takes in the room, refusing to look at May because they've deactivated the wall. She wonders whether Gonzales believes his forces are strong enough now to keep May from escaping or if May's weakened to the point that they don't fear her abilities as much.

"Jemma." May's voice croaks, even worse than the last time Jemma heard her and she speculates if they're even supplying May with adequate nutrition.

By the looks of it probably not.

Jemma turns to face her fully and takes a seat on the chair placed directly in front of May. Her hands are now visibly trembling because she  _can't_ do this.  _Won't_ do it.

May's eyes flicker from her face to her hands. Jemma observes the tightening of her jaw and lets her eyes speak for her.

_I can't do this._

"Have to." May replies, feature now completely blank. 

Jemma shakes her head furiously even as the tears begin building up, but she won't let them fall. "I'm sorry."

May doesn't say anything. Doesn't even move.

Eventually someone comes to get Jemma, but she struggles against the hold on her arm, "Please let me just-"

She breaks free of the hold and jogs towards May, leaning in slightly and holding her. She tightens her hold when she notices the agent hasn't tried to pry her off May and descretly slips a pin into May's skin, silently apologising to her all the way.

"I'm sorry." She whispers as she's led out the cell. And she is, but she also knows they don't have anymore time because Jemma will do a lot for her precious people- but she will not  _torture_.

 

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The escape.

There escape is nothing and everything like Jemma thought it would be like.

 

It happens during her late night lab sessions, she's the only one left to work with the box with nothing but the lab and a black clad agent hidden in the shadows.

Jemma's working on how she's going to get May something else, preferably adequate nutrition, to help her, when the agent in the shadows moves towards her.

She's startled until he doesn't stop and she realises the agent's  _falling._ The odd sight of the agent on the floor is enough to kick Jemma into action and she rummages inside the cupboard underneath her for a first aid kit, she comes up only to be face to face with Melinda May.

At this point the surprise is so large that the only other feeling that manges to break through her frozen state is white hot  _relief._

"May." Jemma whispers, reaching out and quickly pulling back before her fingers touch May. Her eyes are hard and there are a few specks of blood on her cheek, but May's not injured so Jemma quiets the worry in her head and moves to grab the fake box. If they escape without it it'll be suspicious, but Jemma has a plan.

May only nods her head and motions towards the hallway, signalling for Jemma to move out ahead of her.

Jemma nods and does do, quickly grabbing her lab coat and handing May the scalpels littering the work station next to her's.

May nods once more in thanks and the next moment Jemma's running with May behind her as her ears ring with the shrill echo of the alarms.

 

* * *

 

 

They make it but barely.

Jemma leads the way into the carrier bay and lightly shoves May in front of her, taking the gun in her hand. 

May looks surprised but doesn't argue, she knows Jemma can't fly a plane, will never be able to fly a plane. So she leaves Jemma to handle what little resistance has managed to catch up to them and runs towards the fastest and closest plane she can find, she throws a mourning glance at her bus but doesn't stop. Stopping will lead to problems they don't have the capability to face.

She hears a few gun shots and mini explosions rings behind her, but they're distant sounds. May focuses on the task at hand and hopes Jemma can handle herself.

Jemma watches the entrance to the carrier bay crumble as her explosions rock her off her feet, but she'd quickly scrambling up the next moment when a bullet narrowly misses her hands and running after May. She clucthes the gun in her hand like a life saver but she won't use it, it's not necessary and she doesn't want to take anybody's life, no matter what side of the line they're on. 

Jemma sees May enter a small plane with the name ' _Maria'_ engraved on the side in a script that reminds her oddly of how her teacher used to write, the bout of nostalgia that hits her then knocks her off her feet.

The brief lapse is enough and the next thing Jemma knows there's white hot pain shooting through her shoulder and she can no longer hold on to either the gun or the box. She lets them both drop and continues running, clutching at her bleeding shoulder instead. When she's safely inside the plane and the hatch is closed, she lets the darkness take her because any relief is welcome instead of the scalding pain that encompassed her body. 

 

* * *

 

 

Jemma wakes up briefly to find her shoulder bandage and the pain gone, she takes a look around an takes note of the change from plane to bed before she blacks out again.

 

The second time she stays awake for much longer but that's because of the pain. The scalding has receded into a dull roar but it  _hurts_. May shoves a tablet into her mouth and it's followed by water. It's not long before Jemma's vision begins to fade and she's down under.

 

The third and final time Jemma wakes up feeling almost like she did before her final academy exam. The one that had kept her and Fitz up for hours going over theorems and key terms. 

She glances at the ceiling to take a moment to collect herself. The pain isn't as bad as it was before, but the inactivity has led to body aches that refuse to allow her to sit up without looking like a bay deer. Jemma hopes May's not there to see it, and when she fully sits up, back reclined against the headboard of the bed she's been placed on, she notices that May isn't there. She also notices how she's in what looks like a very shabby motel room, one that resembles ones in Skye's favourite crime thriller movies. 

The thought of May sends a painful pang to her thought and she focuses her attention elsewhere. The room is very small and has two doors to the front and left wall, no windows. Jemma curls her toes and stretches her arms, only to stop when a sharp stab of pain shoots through her left shoulder. 

The shoulder itself is bandaged, the cotton of her shirt torn through to manage the wrapping. Jemma wonders why May didn't just take her shirt off, it's practically useless in covering anything now. 

Jemma rips at the shirt with her right hand and tosses the pieces onto the floor, right next to her shoes. The room's not cold so Jemma contents herself with only wearing a vest top until May gets back.  

Standing up is a lot easier than sitting up, but she's still weak enough that it requires more effort than usual. The moment she gets her feet moving, she has them carry her towards the door on the left, which is more likely to be a bathroom than the other one.

Opening the door proves her theory right and Jemma closes the door behind her, taking care of her business and washing her face and hair in the dirtied sink as much as she can. She's too paranoid to take a shower, but she might once she knows May's there to watch her back. 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I completely forgot what I was doing with this so I'm trying to keep it going using what's left of my knowledge on M:AOS


End file.
